by Fiona Grace
He nodded, then said, very seriously, “Geez. That sucks. So what street are you sleeping on?”
She waited a beat for him to say he was just kidding. But he didn’t. He really was going to milk this, the jerk.
Instead, he kept on with it. “I hear Via Bengasi has great views of the sunrise. Or if you stay in Piazza Roma, you can always get a square of pavement near the fountain, if you watch out for the pigeon poop. Just don’t stay outside my place. The last thing I need is property values going—”
She leaned over and smacked him on his hard, well-shaped bicep.
“Ow!” he said, like a total baby, rubbing his arm. “All right, all right, cut it out. You know I was just kidding with you. You can stay in my guest room while you figure things out. I’m going to be gone all day tomorrow anyway, so my place is yours.”
The guest room. The thought of sleeping upstairs, so close to him, sent a little shiver through her. “Thanks. But I don’t even need the guest room. Your sofa is fine.”
He eyed her with a bit of confusion.
“I mean … if you make me too comfortable, I might never want to move out. So …”
“All right. Suit yourself. Whatever you want.” He leaned forward, a serious look on his face. “But what I want to know is, if you needed a place to stay, why didn’t you go to that boyfriend of yours?”
That was the million-dollar question. She really didn’t know. It wasn’t even about the date-that-wasn’t-a-date. It should’ve been easier to go to him as a friend, and he would’ve gladly put her up in his place over the café. But for some reason, the second she’d thought about a place to stay, she’d thought about Mason. G hadn’t even come to mind.
Why? She couldn’t answer that.
“For the last time, he’s not my boyfriend,” she said to him, bringing her wine to her lips and taking a sip. “He’s just a friend.”
“Whatever you say. You know, I have some—not a lot, but some— experience with black mold. I can probably fix it for you, if you play your cards right.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. She stuck her tongue out like she was going to be sick.
“I could. That way, you wouldn’t have to take out that loan you were talking about.”
“No, really. I couldn’t let you do that. I’d feel—”
“All right. Then pay me when you’re able to. When the clinic starts doing better. I don’t like the idea of those animals marinating in that situation, same as you. I may be annoying, but I ain’t heartless. So just let me do it. All right?”
He seemed so resolute, she simply couldn’t say no. Since when had he become her knight in shining armor? “I guess. At least I should let you take a look at it first and see what you think. It might be too big a job for you.”
“Good deal.” He took a gulp of his beer. “So you have off all day tomorrow?”
“Well, yes. I have to go in and take care of the strays, but—”
“I’m taking the day off, going to Agrigento to see the ruins. Haven’t gotten a chance to get down there. You ever been?”
She shook her head. She’d wanted to. It was supposed to be amazing and historic, with beautiful temples of the gods. At one point, she’d planned a trip down there, but a little thing like being a suspect in a murder had stopped her from leaving the city limits. Now was not the time to be sightseeing, though. She had thousands of things to do, the least of which was figuring out how to make her properties livable again.
“You should come along. Get away. You look stressed.”
She let out a wistful sigh at the thought. Yes, she was starting to feel burned out, and it wasn’t just the lack of sleep from the previous night. The distraction would be welcome, but it wasn’t exactly the responsible thing to do. “That sounds nice, but I really should—”
“Come on. When was the last time you didn’t have to work? Plus, if I’m gonna do the work on the place, you’re gonna have to wait for me to come back anyway.”
“I don’t know. The animals need me, and I should—”
“Get that kid of yours—that Luca—to look after them. It’s just for a day. He’s reliable, right?”
She nodded. “He is, but—”
“And if you want to stop in in the morning to look in on them, I’ll check out the mold situation then. All right?”
“Well … I really should—”
“You should do a lot of things, and that’s all you’ve been doing. Do something you want to do, for once,” he said, his blue eyes boring into hers in a way that made her entire body heat up like a flame.
Stop it, body. He’s just a crush. Totally unattainable. Remember?
But she’d gotten away once, months ago, to go to Catania on the coast, and that had completely refreshed her, giving her hope and that little nudge to carry on. That was something G had told her: You cannot escape your problems by running from them. You can press pause on them for a bit. Take them on when you are in a better frame of mind.
So, looking into his eyes, feeling a shiver travel from her head to her toes, she nodded slightly. “All right. Let’s do it.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Mason had the biggest, fluffiest, most wonderful couch.
She wouldn’t tell that to him, though, because he likely already knew it. The guy thought he had the most wonderful everything.
She smiled as she opened her eyes and stretched in the sunny yellow living room with the lovely ivy plants outside climbing up the trellis of the window. She’d had such a restful night’s sleep, she wished she could bottle it and open it every night. It was one of those sleeps where she’d fallen so deeply that she could barely remember it at all. She’d been a rock.
Before she could untangle herself from the blanket, though, Polpetto, who, though he was the size of a truck, still seemed to think he was a puppy, clambered in, jumping on her mid-section and whooshing all the air out of her lungs. Nick was on his tail.
“Uh!” she mumbled breathlessly. “Help!”
It only got worse when Nick joined in. She really thought she was going to die from the sheer weight.
“Hey. She’s our guest. Don’t kill her,” Mason’s voice called from the arched doorway as Audrey’s arms and legs flailed underneath the weight of the animals. He snapped his fingers.
Polpetto reluctantly jumped off, leaving Audrey panting, her hair a staticky revolt upon her head. Nick lingered on her chest proudly, as if to say, I win. Of course, Mason was fully dressed and looking just as scrumptious as ever. He held a mug in front of him. “Espresso?”
She smoothed down her hair as she nudged Nick away and pulled off the blanket. Then, when she realized she was wearing her It’s all Fun and Games Until Someone Winds Up in a Cone T-shirt and peach-butt boxers, pulled it back up again. “Yes, that would be lovely.”
He seemed to catch sight of them anyway, because he smirked a little. She jumped off of the couch before the dastardly pet duo could launch another attack and followed him into the kitchen, where he handed her a steaming cup, then sat down in his chair. “Bought fresh bread from Pepe if you want a slice.”
She nodded.
He slathered a chunk of bread in butter and handed it to her. She took a nibble. Still warm and delicious; she let out an mmmm of approval.
“Sleep well?”
“Amazing.” She took a sip of the espresso. Of course, his espresso was amazing. Did anything this guy do not turn out awesome? She could get used to this.
“Shower’s upstairs, first door on your right. Left a couple towels out for you.”
Aw. That was so cute. And impressive. Was that what he was trying to do … impress his guest? Or did he normally do this for everyone? She licked her fingers. “Thanks. You keep treating me this well and I might want to make this permanent.”
He frowned. “What do you mean? Ain’t doing nothing special.”
Oh. Right. His life was normally this special. Wasn’t that how it was usually for the beautiful people?
When she pol
ished off her bread, he was back to regular Mason. “I want to get out of here at eight, and I know you want to stop by the clinic, so don’t take too long, Boston.”
She smiled and set the mug down, then stood up. “Fine. But I want to stop by the hardware store, too, and leave a spare key with Luca so he can walk the dogs for me and I can show him how to feed the bunnies.”
He let out a sigh. “Five minutes.”
“Stop being so bossy.”
“My house. My rules,” he muttered after her.
*
Agrigento was only forty-five minutes away by car, near the southern coast of Sicily and on the Mediterranean. Audrey knew all this because of the plans she’d once made to go there, but back then, she’d been hoping to interview a witness to clear her of murder, not to sightsee. But everyone talked about Agrigento, and how amazing it was.
“So, what are we going to see?” she asked Mason as they sped down the road in his little powder-blue Fiat, Polpetto securely wedged between them in the tight cabin of the little car. “You said ruins?”
He nodded. “Yeah, the Valley of Temples.”
“The what?”
“It’s a collection of all the temples of the gods, dating back thousands of years. What, have you been living under a rock, girl?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t had much free time, you know. Something about renovating a house and building a business from scratch …”
“Right, right. But everyone’s heard of these ruins. They’re supposed to be incredible.”
“Oh. Okay,” she said, getting more excited as he pressed on, upshifting on the meandering, winding hills outside the city. As he did, she glanced at his hand, wrapped around the shifter. Tanned, with just the slightest bit of hair, and not a trace of an age spot or unsightly vein. The man could’ve been a hand model, too.
“Boston, you’re just going to have to chill if you want to ride with me,” he said.
She glanced over at him. He’d donned his dark sunglasses, which made him look even more beautiful and gave her a giddy, weightless feeling. “I am chill. I’m fine.”
“Then stop digging your fingernails into the leather.”
She looked down. Yep, she was, her knuckles white. She slowly unfurled her claws into regular hands and laughed. “Sorry. I keep thinking of the clinic. I hope the animals will—”
He reached over and grabbed her hand, which she realized was starting to curl up in a claw again, surprising her so much that her heart stuttered in her chest. “Relax. I told you, I can take care of the mold situation. It ain’t that bad. And Luca will look after the animals just fine. Besides, we’ll be back by dinnertime.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
They drove on until the bright blue line of sea appeared in the distance, and the city of Agrigento appeared beneath them. As they descended into the valley, Audrey’s ears popping from the elevation change, she started feeling a little less worried, and more excited about the adventure in front of them.
As they drove up to the dirt road leading the ruins, Audrey spied the stone columns and monoliths rising out of the green landscape and let out a gasp. “Look!”
They were spread out upon the whitewashed stone ground, in the sand and dirt. Dozens of temples with impressive columns, the homes of the Gods. When they parked in a lot along with the other tourists, she quickly scrambled out of the car and headed toward an information board. It was in Italian, but that didn’t stop her from staring at it, mouth agog. “Did you know that it was this amazing?” she asked breathlessly as a shadow of a person came up behind her.
When Mason didn’t answer, she looked and saw an Asian guy in a bucket hat, with a camera, glaring at her, like, Please get out of my way and stop hogging the sign.
“Oh, sorry,” she said, moving aside to find Mason, who was still trying to wrangle Polpetto out of the car. Apparently, Polpetto wasn’t much of a history buff. A shame; Nick had really wanted to go, but Audrey wasn’t sure what their policy was on wild animals.
She rushed back to help him. She patted her thighs and said, “Here, Polpy. Come on, baby.”
The giant mastiff quickly got to his feet, jumped out, and ran to her.
Mason scowled. “They go to vet school and they think they know everything,” he muttered.
“It’s called sweet talk!” she said. “You should know, you catch more flies with honey…”
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, heading up the staircase with his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
She followed him up the steps to a grassy field, studded with rocks and the occasional olive tree. In the distance, a large, crumbling edifice stood, and beyond that, the modern buildings of the city of Agrigento loomed. As they walked toward it, Audrey took out her camera and started snapping photographs.
Mason turned around as she snapped a picture and grinned. “You’re taking photos of my butt again, aren’t you?”
“Ew. You wish,” she said, though she had to admit, it’d probably be nice to get a picture of the two of them together. Her sister would definitely appreciate it. Even if this wasn’t a date, she was out doing something she never could do back in the States. Living life. Enjoying herself. That was what she’d flown halfway across the world for, right?
She motioned him closer to her. “Come on. Selfie.”
He easily obliged, since he was a big fan of pictures of himself. He wrapped an arm around her, and she held the phone at arm’s length, trying to get both of their faces, and a little of the ruins, in the frame.
“No, not like that,” he said.
“Like what?”
“Here, let me do it,” he said, taking the camera from her. Somehow, he was able to find just the right angle for the photo, so that when he snapped it, she had to admit it was social-media worthy.
“Wow,” she said, staring at it. “You’re good.”
He shrugged like it was no big deal, then took Polpetto’s leash and led him up another flight of stairs. Audrey hung back and quickly texted the picture to Brina with the caption, Finally making it to the ruins in Agrigento.
As she rushed to catch up, her phone buzzed. She looked at the text. Who cares about a bunch of old dusty buildings. I’m more interested in the MAN!
She laughed. She knew Brina would say that.
Then a second later, another text appeared: Nice picture, but would be better with ABS.
“What’s so funny?”
She looked up and realized Mason was standing not five steps from her, gazing curiously at her. She tried to wipe the smile off her face, but just then, she imagined Mason stripping off his T-shirt in the middle of the ruins of the gods, to have a picture taken. A god among gods. She couldn’t help it. She started to laugh.
“What?” Now he looked more annoyed than anything. “Show me.”
Before she could pocket her phone, he grabbed it from her and glanced at the text.
“Ah. Who’s Sabrina again? Friend?”
“Sister.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes. She and my mom are my only family.”
“No dad?”
“Not since I was twelve. He left without a word and I haven’t seen or heard from him since. My mother freaks out if I even mention his name.”
“Seriously? That’s rough.” He stared at the text. “So … Brina. Younger, older? Is she hot? This isn’t the first time I’ve caught you texting with her. Why does she like me so much?”
“Don’t you mean, ‘Obviously she likes me, because what’s not to love about me?’”
He shrugged. “Come on. I’m not that big a jerk.”
Well, at least he recognized that.
“She’s beautiful, actually, and two years older, though she looks about ten. She got the sultry vixen looks and I got the cute-as-a-button freckles,” Audrey muttered, trying to keep the envy out of her voice. “But she also has three kids and is happily married, so …”
“So I’m her side treat?” The smirk was back. “I could go for that.�
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Audrey mimed gagging. “You’re gross. And believe me, she’s way too good for you.”
He touched the picture of Brina in her profile, studied it, and nodded. “Probably.” Then he handed the phone back to her. “What? You sound bitter, Boston. Was there some kind of sibling rivalry going on there?”
“No. Of course not.”
“What … did Daddy like her better?”
“No! In fact, I was always daddy’s little girl,” she said.
“All right. But … I don’t know. There’s some baggage there you’re not telling me about. He stroked his chin, staring her down. “Sorry, I’m an only child. I don’t get this sibling stuff.”
“Brina’s my best friend. But …” She stopped. Was she really going to go into this with him?
“But what? Come on, tell me.”
Now he was looking at her, urging it out of her. She got the feeling no woman could look into those blue eyes, pleading with them, and say no. “Well,” she said, “Brina is and always has been my best friend. But she’s always been the best, the first, at everything. She was the spotlight seeker, and I hated that.”
He listened carefully, nodding. “Somehow I don’t see you shrinking into the background anywhere.”
“It’s true, I was the wallflower!” she said, walking away from him so he wouldn’t be able to see how much she was blushing. She’d figured Mason for a lot of things, but one thing she hadn’t expected him to be was a good listener. “It’s always been that way. But Brina? She has her life together. Perfect family, perfect life.”
“Your life ain’t so bad, is it?” he said, walking along with her, Polpetto by his side.
“No,” she said. “Well … it was.”
“Was? Why?”
She stopped under the shade of an olive tree, staring at the ruins of one of the biggest temples in the distance. Around them, tourists were milling about, taking photographs, but as gorgeous as it was, and as wonderful the weather was, she suddenly found herself in desolate, cold Boston, dreaming of a way out of her awful apartment, thankless job, go-nowhere love life … it was a downright dreary existence that made her shiver, even now.